Fire guts INEC office, destroys PVCs, ballot boxes

A fire outbreak has burnt down the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Election materials burnt down in the inferno included ballot boxes, Permanent Voters Card (PVCs), and voter registers, among other things.

Osaretin Imajiyereobo, Head of Department, Voter Education and Publicity, in Plateau State, confirmed the inferno in a statement on Sunday. Imajiyereobo attributed the incident to the carelessness of a drunken security man.

He however, did not disclose the identity of the security man and the time the incident occurred in the statement.

However, he said: “The INEC office in Qua’an Pan has been engulfed by fire causing a setback for the preparations for the general elections in the Local Government Area,” the official wrote.

“A drunken security man was said to have caused the fire outbreak.

“The office is completely burnt with all its content ie ballot boxes, generators serviced and filled with fuel, voting cubicles, newly printed electronic and manual Voters Register, uncollected PVCs, materials for the preparations of RAC and other materials yet to be identified.”

He added that a management team led by the Plateau State INEC Administrative Secretary, Gbadamasi Rasheed, was already heading to the area to assess the situation.

Qua’an Pan LGA is among the six LGAs in the Southern senatorial district of Plateau State.